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I learn something new from every investigation and this one was no different. The Ribeyre Gymnasium was the perfect location for a ghost hunt. Built in 1924 to serve as the sports center for the local New Harmony school system, the gymnasium has witnessed a tremendous amount of history during the past century.

The gymnasium was only a year old when a tragic F5 tornado swept through the nearby town of Griffin, IN, and nearly wiped the town off the face of the earth. Many of the injured and dead were brought to New Harmony, with the gymnasium being used as a temporary morgue.

Since that time, strange occurrences have been reported. People often hear voices, footsteps, and doors slamming in empty rooms and the apparitions of two children have been seen frequently. During my first Sweethearts Ghost Hunt investigation at the gymnasium, many of us witnessed a child poking his/her head out of the bathroom door. Others saw movement on the balcony. While we didn’t visually witness the apparitions during this investigation, we had enough experiences to validate the haunting of the Ribeyre Gymnasium.

After a presentation and a lasagna dinner, we divided into two groups of 12 people. Crystal Folz, my friend who has helped me with many other events, took one group to the Annex building, while I took another group of 12 to the basement. Assisting us with the night was Paula Bundy, my childhood friend who helps me with my events and Shannon DeLap, my local New Harmony friend.

Basement – Small Room at the base of the stairs

My group started out together in the small room in the basement at the foot of the stairs. I wanted them to experience an EVP session together before we divided into two smaller groups. I passed around my dowsing rods to let everyone experience them. Several people were blown away by how the rods move on their own. I then pulled out some of my equipment, including my Mel Meter and KII meter, which measures electromagnetic energy fluctuations, which can sometimes signify a ghostly presence. As soon as we introduced the meters, especially the KII, I had everyone turn their cell phones onto airplane mode. When our phones search for signals or receive data, it can cause the KII meter to register. Knowing that everyone’s phones were discontinued from getting a signal gave us the confidence to know that all readings on the meter were legitimate.

Two members of our group came with a plethora of equipment. Al and Judy traveled from northern Indiana and spent the day walking around New Harmony, taking in the sights. One of the gadgets they brought was a Phasmabox program they ran off a tablet. (http://www.extremesenses.com/software/phasmabox.htm).

It took Al and Judy a few minutes to get the device running, so I asked the group if they could feel the ghosts coming into the room. Several members of our group have had profound paranormal experiences and attended to gain more insight.

As soon as the Phasmabox was operating, we started getting strange responses. This program apparently scans online radio stations and works similarly to the Spirit Box without the choppiness.

Here’s an example of what we heard. After about twenty seconds it said, “This in twenty seconds.” It wasn’t in response to a question. It just said it. None of us could make it out at the time. I had to section it out and listen to it with headphones to make it out.

Judy said, “What did you want to ask us?” The device said, “Are you happy?” What I found to be strange was the fact that the voice that responded sounded very similar to me, even though I didn’t say a word.

Al then asked how many were in the room with us. It immediately answered, “Six.” Judy then asked if they could tell us their names. A female voice came through and said, “Two men with us.”

I honestly wasn’t sure what to make of the Phasmabox. Many of the sounds it made were nonsensical. We couldn’t understand what it was saying, but other times, it was as clear as day. One person asked if they lived in New Harmony. The response was, “Been around.”

After almost a half hour, I took half the group to the large area in the basement that has the dirt floor. Paula stayed with the remainder of the group and continued with the Phasmabox.

As soon as my group was gone, the Phasmabox said a few things that made no sense, but then said very clearly, “We’ve lost some.” Was it referring to the fact that half our group left?

They also had a strange response come through that no one understood at the time. It might just be my ears hearing this, but I swear the Phasmabox said, “We want Joni Mayhan to talk to us.” Listen for yourself and let me know what you think.

The group continued to ask questions and during one of the lulls in responses, my digital recorder caught this beauty. “I said, who farted?” If we hadn’t been getting some pretty relevant responses to this point, I would have sworn this was a lark, but it’s hard to dismiss.

The group asked my favorite question and got a great response. I always hold up several fingers and ask them how many fingers they see. I do this for several reasons. Firstly, I want to know if they can actually see us. Secondly, I want to validate the responses we are getting from our ITC devices. There is a lot of skepticism regarding the Spirit Box, so validation is important. Al held up two fingers and asked the question. “Two,” was the very eery response.

After twenty minutes, I brought my group back and had Paula’s group switch places with me.

As soon as my group settled back into the small room, I noticed that one of the recently vacated chairs was making ticking sounds. While it is natural for the chairs to ease back into position after someone gets up from them, the sounds continued long after it should have. I commented to the group about it. Upon audio review, I learned that we caught an EVP at that moment. A whispery voice said, “Chairs tick!” right after I finished speaking.

I was determined to show them how amazing the Spirit Box is when it’s working, so I turned it back on for a few rounds of questions. We went around the group several times and the only response we got was a male voice, telling us to “go!”

When it was Crystal’s group’s turn in the basement, they divided up immediately. Shannon took half the group to the large room, while Crystal stayed in the small room at the base of the stairs with the rest of the group. Crystal’s group immediately began getting hits on the KII meter, which could signify a ghostly presence. This was the first time the meter had blinked all night. Crystal made sure everyone’s cell phones were turned off.

They began using it as a tool for communicating. It came on when they asked if it was a male but didn’t answer any more questions. They moved onto the dowsing rods. They learned:

They were talking to a male – he said he wasn’t young

He was frightened

He was from Griffin

When they asked if he lived on a farm, they got two responses, one from the dowsing rod and an EVP.

After a while, they stopped getting responses. They did what my group did earlier in the same spot and began chatting about the paranormal. Sometimes backing away from the investigation and lightening the mood gives them the courage to move closer. Using the dowsing rods, they asked if someone was preventing them from answering. The rods answered “no.”

They started to move their chairs to make room for Shannon’s group, who weren’t getting any results, and the KII lights started going off again.

Crystal asked if all the movement was stirring them up and the meter flashed again.

One member of the group began asking questions about the Griffin tornado. She told them that she had once been through a tornado too and asked if they were scared when it happened. The digital recorder picked up a faint EVP that said, “I don’t know.” The voice was male and sounded like an adult. The dowsing rods began moving towards yes but paused at the same time they recorded the EVP.

Large Room with the Dirt Floor in the Basement

When my group was in the basement, Paula took half the group into the larger room with the dirt floor. As soon as they turned on the Phasmabox, a girl’s voice came through. The group thought she said, “Someone help me,” but upon later review, I couldn’t really make out what she said. It almost sounded like, “someone there” but it wasn’t clear enough to consider a valid response. Seconds later, Judy asked, “What do you need help with?” A female voice said, “Help me.” They misinterpreted it at the time as “everything.”

They continued to talk to the Phasmabox and got quite a few responses that were difficult to interpret. They asked it to make the lights change on the KII device and it flickered to yellow. Al told them to make it go red and a voice came through and said “green.”

When it was my turn to bring a group into the dirt-floor room, we started with a Spirit Box session but received no responses after a few minutes, so we turned it off. We ended up just sitting and talking while running the audio recorder. We didn’t record any EVPs but had a good conversation about the ghosts in the building.

Crystal’s Group in the Dirt-Floor Room

Crystal’s group found the larger room to be fairly quiet too. They passed around the dowsing rods and began getting some interesting responses.

Dowsing Rod responses:

They don’t consider it to be a quiet place

There were several ghosts there

The group began hearing voices talking, so Crystal checked with the other basement group, who said they were also hearing voices. It could have been from my group upstairs, but we were in the far end of the Annex. She decided to just monitor it since she couldn’t find a source of the voices. They continued with the dowsing rods.

They were afraid to talk to them (slow yes)

They were talking to a child

It wasn’t a little girl

There were more than one of them

They were siblings

He was there with his sister (slow yes)

They were from the 1920’s (fast yes)

His father worked there (also confirmed with a faint EVP that said “yeah”)

He played at the banks of the Wabash River

He liked to go swimming in the Wabash River

He helped his dad a lot

He liked to help his dad (fast yes)

His dad didn’t work on the ferry

His dad worked in town in New harmony (fast yes)

His dad worked in a shop

Shannon’s Group in the Dirt-Floor Room

Shannon’s turn in the larger room was similar to the rest of our experiences. As with every group, they were fascinated by the foundation and structure. Shannon commented that it almost looked like they were in an episode of Stranger Things.

They started off with a Spirit Box session. Everyone asked very good questions but didn’t get any responses. During the middle of the session, Crystal came into the room to ask them if they were also hearing people talking. Shannon told her that they were hearing voices too but couldn’t pinpoint the location of where the voices were coming from. The room suddenly grew colder, something everyone in the group felt.

After several minutes, one of the members of the group felt something poke her shoulder. The room seemed to grow even colder. Shannon reported she also felt something touch her leg and wondered if someone was standing between the two of them.

During their session, they noticed that the lights would periodically dim. They began attempting to use the lights for interaction, asking the ghosts to dim the lights. While the lights did appear to dim, the reaction was too delayed to consider it as a valid response.

Shannon also felt something move the recorder. It happened after Rosemary asked if they were from Griffin, so she wondered if it was a response to the question.

Annex

We were all stunned to realize that the Annex was the most active spot in the entire building. I went in with a preconceived notion that I would find more ghosts in the basement than anywhere else, but I was wrong.

Crystal’s group was the first group to investigate this room. She started out by explaining the equipment to everyone and showed them how to use the dowsing rods. She set up the laser grid and directed it so it shone against the far wall. If something walked through the light grid, it’s easier to see.

She then explained how the Spirit Box worked and gave them a quick demonstration. She also explained how the KII and Ghost Meter worked and instructed everyone to turn their cell phones on airplane mode so they wouldn’t interfere.

They then settled in for a dowsing rod session. Here’s what they learned:

He/she was a child

He/she didn’t grow up here. Crystal explained that the Owens often brought orphans into their group (the Harmonists did this too) so they might not understand the question.

He was a boy (I also got a very faint EVP “yes” here on the digital recorder.

He likes to go outside and play

He didn’t have any pets

He wasn’t originally from New Harmony (this was a good questions because it confirmed an earlier response)

Several people heard a woman’s voice towards the back of the room, so they began directing questions towards her.

She confirmed she was a woman

She confirmed that she just spoke aloud

Crystal sent Shannon into the gymnasium to get the pinwheel and explained to the group that some of the older souls residing there weren’t comfortable with our electronic gear and might be more inclined to communicate by spinning the pinwheel. As they settled back into the session, there was a strange moaning sound in the background. It almost sounded like an animal moaning. No one in the group heard it at the time.

Several people began seeing shadows moving in the gymnasium by the stage through the open door.

They continued with the dowsing rods, directing questions towards the woman. They noticed that when she answered, the dowsing rods responded in a different manner than they had when they talked to the boy, regardless of who was holding them. Only one rod would cross this time.

She didn’t remember the man who used to fix the clock

She likes hanging around the gymnasium

She wasn’t from New Harmony

She came with someone to New Harmony

Crystal then turned on the Spirit Box, but continued to use the dowsing rods.

The person was from Griffin (dowsing rods)

There were no responses on the Spirit Box

Crystal then divided the group and sent half the group up to Attic #1 with Shannon and gave them fifteen minutes to see what they could find.

She continued with the dowsing rods:

The woman moved here for a job

She lived in New Harmony

She didn’t live on a farm (this was also confirmed by a faint EVP that said “didn’t”)

She worked in New Harmony

They began noticing the chair clicks at that point. The other group had already been gone for over ten minutes, so the chair shouldn’t have still been settling.

She wasn’t a coach for any of the athletic groups

They asked if the boy was still there and got a “yes” response on the dowsing rods

He confirmed that he was playing with the chairs

He likes causing trouble

He’s the one who peeks out of the bathroom

There are other children there with him

Tracy had a video camera pointed on the bathroom door and asked if the boy would peek out of the doorway for her camera. He said yes via the dowsing rods.

Shannon came back down with the first group and brought the second group up to the attic.

Crystal continued with the dowsing rods with the other half of the group who had been in the attic.

The woman didn’t come to the event with someone in the group

When they asked if she was a child, the rod wavered back and forth (young woman?)

She didn’t like to play sports

She wasn’t an indoor person

She had something else she wanted to tell them

She wanted to tell them something about herself

When asked if she had unfinished business, the rods responded with a “yes” but went very slowly

There is someone she needs to talk to (fast yes)

The person is a member of her family (fast yes)

The family member was in the room

Crystal is a psychic medium and began picking up on the fact that the person probably was there with a member of the group and not a ghost hanging around the building. While she was reluctant to do a reading, she let the event run its course.

She was there with a male

She wanted to tell the male that she loved him

The male was her son

At that point, the woman realized the spirit who was talking to them was her husband’s deceased mother. It was an emotional moment for the woman and her husband, but they wanted to push through it and get as much information as possible. Crystal made sure both of them were comfortable continuing, so they did.

The woman confirmed her name

She knew her son was loved and well cared for now

Her husband took the rods and began communicating with his mother.

She knows that he’s okay

She’s at peace

She’s a little worried about him (dowsing rods responded slowly)

She knows that he loves her (fast yes)

Crystal then talked to the group about what they’d just experienced. One person said she felt validated after having experiences all her life. They were all amazed at the experience, having used the dowsing rods themselves and seeing how they moved.

Joni’s Group in the Annex

My group was the second group in the Annex building. As soon as we sat down, I told everyone to keep an eye out on the bathroom doorways. During the last investigation, a handful of us saw a head peek out of the doorway. I also explained that the ice machine in the kitchen often dumps a load of ice into the bin, making a loud crashing noise.

We started the session and I asked if there was anyone there who wanted to communicate with us. Immediately, the ice machine made a crashing noise that caused us all to laugh.

We started a Spirit Box session and got an immediate response. I asked if they could spin the pinwheel we had on the floor and a female voice said, “no.” I bring out the pinwheel because we had some luck with it at another investigation. I like to provide low tech options to them as well as our high-tech gadgets.

Al and Judy had a lot of equipment, so I invited them to bring out their SB-11 Spirit Box. The model I use is the SB-7. The SB-11 is essentially two of my devices put together. They scan simultaneously, one scanning backwards and the other scanning forwards, to prevent any radio interference. The results were a mixed bag. While we did seem to get some responses, they were too faint to make out, even later with headphones on.

After a few minutes of this, I decided to take four people up to the first attic to see what we could find up there.

Paula stayed with the other half of the group and they continued using the SB-11 Spirit Box.

In reviewing the audio recorded during this session, it was difficult to understand some of the responses. The SB-11 seems to produce so much white noise; it’s hard to hear the voices.

Someone asked if they were married. A male voice said, “I am.”

“Did you ever go swimming in the Wabash?” Paula asked. “No,” was the faint response.

I came back down a few minutes later and Paula took her group to the attic. I left my SB-7 Spirit Box running. I also left my flashlight up there. As soon as her group got up to the attic, they sat down and asked if anyone was there. The flashlight came on immediately.

Someone asked what his name was and the response was amusing. “Pony Boy,” a voice on the Spirit Box said. Was he a big fan of The Outsiders?

The flashlight remained off until someone asked if they liked playing with it. It immediately came on for the second time.

Some time went on and the flashlight remained off. Someone asked if they liked it when I brought groups there and it came back on.

It remained off until someone asked if they could turn it on again. It immediately came back on, and then stayed off.

“Are there seven people with you?” someone asked. They heard something, but couldn’t make it out. “Is that a yes?” he asked. “Yes,” was the clear response.

I went upstairs and brought the group back to the Annex building, where Al had his Phasmabox going again. We all rejoined the group and started asking questions.

“Do you know what color my car is? Did you see me drive up?” I asked. It responded with “yellow” immediately. It was the wrong answer because my car is red, but the fact that it provided an actual color was interesting to me. Was this really working?

I took a group up to Attic #1 and when I returned, I decided to work with the dowsing rods. I was feeling there were two females there and the dowsing rods confirmed this. I noticed Kylie staring at my chair with a look of horror on her face, so I stopped and asked her what was wrong. Apparently, after I sat my phone on the empty chair beside me, it started skittering down the seat. I was able to duplicate it once, but it wouldn’t do it again. I don’t necessarily think it was paranormal, but it was pretty creepy the way it moved and stopped, moved and stopped.

Al turned back on his Phasmabox and let it run for a while. After someone asked what his name was, he said, “It’s Houston.”

Still not convinced the program was really the afterlife speaking to us, I decided to test it. I asked questions that only had one answer. I asked what town we were in and didn’t get a response. I held up three fingers and asked how many fingers I was holding up. No response. There have been many times when I’ve wondered if some of the communication we’ve had come through the Spirit Box, and in the Phasmabox, were coming though the machine, almost like “ghost telephones.” I often ask direct questions to test this theory and I’ve only had a correct response twice, both while I was living in Massachusetts. Was it possible we were just talking “long distance” to someone in the spirit world? I’m not sure but I’ll definitely keep asking.

After a few more minutes, we broke for break.

Attic #1 (to the left of the stage)

Shannon brought two groups up to the first attic. During her first session, she felt someone rubbing her neck and back. Another person felt very wobbly up there and reported having a difficult time trying to breathe. This is something the group from the previous week also experienced. The flight of stairs is relatively short, so it wouldn’t be normal for people to be winded. They discussed it at length and said that the sensation was abnormal for them. The entire group heard what sounded like a piano playing several notes. They didn’t hear it again.

Joni’s Attic #1 Group

I brought a small group up to the first attic. We decided to use the flashlight to communicate.

We learned that we were talking to a male. No response when we asked his age. We doubled back and asked if we were talking to a female – no response, but when we asked if it was a male, the light came on. We stopped getting responses on the flashlight so I turned on my Spirit Box. We got a few slight responses, but the heating unit clicked on at that point, so any EVPs we might have gotten were drowned out.

Gymnasium

After our final break, the entire group investigated the gymnasium together. Due to the acoustics, we couldn’t have a group in the gymnasium while there was a group in the basement. We tested this during our test-run investigation and heard every footstep echo loudly in the basement below.

I set up several divination tools on tables around the room, inviting people to experiment with them. Included in this experiment were Rune Stones, pendulums, and a scrying mirror. Rick had some interesting results with the scrying mirror. The mirror itself is simply a black mirror that you stare at, hoping to see something appear in the mirror. Rick sat with the mirror facing the balcony in the gymnasium, a spot where children have been seen running up and down the old bleachers. He thought he saw movement in the balcony area as he used the mirror.

In the meantime, our four group leaders took small groups up to the stage area and to the second attic for small EVP sessions.

Shannon brought a group to the stage and did a ten-minute Spirit Box session. The group asked some very compelling questions but didn’t get any valid responses.

Attic #2 (to the right of the stage)

Crystal brought a small group up to the second attic and did a ten-minute Spirit Box session. Someone asked what their names were and a voice responded, “Mark.” The voice sounded high-pitched, as though it belonged to a child or young man. One member of the group thought the voice sounded like it said, “Kirk” and began directing questions to Kirk. There were no more responses which might be due to the incorrect name. The heater clicked on at that point which obliterated any further responses.

Conclusion

As the night drew to a close, we sat in a large circle in the gymnasium and discussed the evening. We did a brief Spirit Box session and only got one interesting response. I asked if they knew what day of the week it was and a voice said, “Sunday.” It was actually Saturday, but we were only ten minutes away from Sunday, so they weren’t off by much. I then went around the circle and asked everyone to tell us their favorite part of the evening.

Everyone had some sort of experience. It ranged from the young man who communicated with his mother to someone seeing shapes move on the balcony. Here are some of the highlights:

Rosemary heard a piano play in Attic #1. It was just a few notes, but was interesting.

When Shannon did a Spirit Box session on the stage, she said goodnight and they said “goodnight” back to them. She also felt someone touch her back in Attic #1.

Paula was amazed at the KII hits in the basement. We’ve never had much luck with it before there.

The dowsing rods crossed at the same time the lights flickered for one person. This happened several times.

Others were amazed at the relevant responses we got with dowsing rods, spirit box and the Phasmabox

Rick watched something moving in the balcony several times

Several people enjoyed the paranormal experiences because they helped them validate other events that have happened to them in their lives.

Thank you to everyone who attended the event. Special thanks go to Crystal Folz, Paula Bundy and Shannon DeLap for all your help making this event so successful.

(Above) The Ribeyre Gymnasium – 603 Main Street, New Harmony, IN

No matter where you are in New Harmony, you can hear the clock tower on the Ribeyre Gymnasium mark the hours. The resounding rings echo through the town, paying homage to the passage of time. Even if I’m aware of the time, I still find myself pausing to count the rings. In some ways, it feels like a moment of unity because no matter where we are when it chimes, we are all focused on the same thing.

The Ribeyre Gymnasium was built in 1924 to provide the local school with a facility for sporting activities. It was extensively renovated within the past ten years, with the renovation budget topping over a million dollars. It is a bright sun-lit space with gleaming golden floors and soaring ceilings. It is the site of many weddings, banquets and receptions, having the capacity to seat 600 people. It was even used for filming several scenes of the 1992 movie A League of Their Own.

(Above) A scene from the movie A League of Their Own

When you walk into the space, it brings you back to an earlier era, but beneath the happy façade lingers a horrific memory.

The gymnasium was barely a year old when it became used for something no one would have imagined.

On Wednesday, March 18th, 1925, a massive category 5 tornado cut a 219 mile path through three states. It completely demolished the town of Griffin, which is located several miles away from New Harmony.

(Above) A sign in nearby Griffin, IN, documenting the tragic events of the past

The storm seemed to come out of nowhere, catching the residents by surprise. Some of them attempted to seek shelter in nearby homes and businesses but were crushed by the rubble as the buildings collapsed all around them. Children on their way home from school on the school bus were also victims of the tragedy, as the bus tumbled end over end, becoming airborne at one point. All in all, fifty-two people died that day, with many more seriously injured.

Bodies were pulled from the debris and carried to wagons and carts. Since the entire town was flattened, residents looked to nearby New Harmony for help.

The brand new Ribeyre Gymnasium seemed to provide the perfect location to store the bodies until they could be identified and collected by their families. In several cases, the injuries were so severe; it was difficult to determine if the person was living or dead. One woman was carried down into the basement to be laid out with the rest of the victims. As they placed her on the ground, she began moving.

In my years of investigating the paranormal, I’ve found myself in some very unnerving locations. I’ve been in abandoned mental hospitals, old prisons and even inside empty crypts, but nothing could have prepared me for what I felt in the basement of the gymnasium.

It’s difficult to describe how energy feels to someone who is sensitive to it. We are all energetic beings and everything around us is composed of energy. When you feel the energy, it almost feels like you can detect the mood of an environment. In this case, the mood was desperately somber.

(Above) the Ribeyre Gymnasium in its early days. Photo courtesy of Workingmen’s Institute

The space was long and broad. It had a dirt floor and dusty rafters, showing the passage of time. Even though the upstairs was bright and cheery, the basement provided a clear glimpse into the building’s past.

I brought my psychic medium friend, Crystal Folz, with me and she had the same reaction. Neither of us could handle being in the space for more than a few minutes. If there was a haunting there, it was lost in the overwhelming sadness that lingered in that space.

I walked around for as long as I could handle it before I said a prayer for the lost souls and left. Coming up the stairs to the sunlight was like coming up from the depths of a deep dark lake for my first breath of air.

Stories surrounding the gymnasium often involve the appearance of children. Several people have actually witnessed them walking across the gymnasium floor. They’re also known to turn the lights on and off.

(Above) The basement of the gymnasium

This story was confirmed by Benton Frisse, who grew up in the town and shared several other stories with me.

During high school, Benton did a film project called “Haunted New Harmony”. He went around town and interviewed people about their experiences.

One of the stories he heard about involved the gymnasium.

Before the gymnasium was renovated, the old tower clock would often malfunction. A local man would go to the gym at all hours of the day and night to fix it.

He would have to climb up a rickety old ladder to reach the clock tower. “The ladder going up to the clock tower was scary. You couldn’t have paid me a hundred bucks to climb that ladder,” Benton told me.

Late one night, the man went to fix the clock. He was halfway back down the ladder when something caught his eye. He saw two children race across the bleachers.

The children looked three-dimensional, with the exception of having a slight glow. He watched them race up the bleachers and then disappear as they reached the top. As time went on, he saw them more and more. They were dressed in outfits from the 1930’s, making him wonder if they were victims of the tornado.

Another local resident named Rita also had an experience at the gymnasium. She used to teach rug hooking classes at the annex building, which is connected to the gymnasium.

“Close to the time we were going to be leaving, I looked up at the clock and it started spinning,” she told me. Both the minute hand and the hour hand were spinning around the dial, as though being pushed by invisible fingers.

She was amazed because the clock had been operating normally during the day. As they all stared in wonderment, the clock slowed down and began operating normally again.

She later asked the man who maintained the building about the clock. He told her there was no reason why the clock would do that. There weren’t any power surges in the area and the clock has never done that before.

Could it have been the work of the children? While it does seem like a prank a child might pull, it’s difficult to determine. So many lives passed through the building, it could have come from any number of sources.

(Above) An undated photo of the building that once stood on the lot where the Ribeyre Gymnasium was later built. Photo courtesy of Workingmen’s Institute

Another occurrence happened to former resident, Cathy Powers, who once owned Country Cottage Restaurant. Cathy now helps the endeavors of Posey County Pound Puppies.

When New Harmony sponsors events and festivals, Cathy often sets up a table at the Ribeyre Gymnasium to promote the cause.

“I always tell vendors the place is haunted,” she said. One of her friends told her she often saw people standing on the old platform that used to be near the front door. She would catch them out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look at them, they would disappear.

One time, Cathy was at the gym setting up for an event and she began hearing a strange noise coming from the speakers.

“This was probably before your time, but it was like the sound the old stand-up console radios made when they were looking for a station,” she said and then demonstrated the noise. If I was expecting her to emulate a static sound, I was mistaken. The high-pitched sound she made nearly resembled aliens descending. It was enough to make the hair on the back of my neck rise.

Cathy attempted to seek out the source of the sound, but couldn’t find anything to explain it. The system wasn’t even turned on.

Rick Johnson spent many years at the Ribeyre Gymnasium. As a long-time teacher in the New Harmony school system, he was also a coach for the basketball team.

A room had been set up in the basement of the building for the coaching staff. When he was down there, he often heard noises and voices coming from the other rooms in the basement.

Every time he would get up to check, he would find the basement empty. It didn’t necessarily spook him, but it gave him an uneasy feeling nonetheless.

If you find yourself in the Ribeyre Gymnasium, pay attention to the area near the bell tower and the edges of the room. It’s possible you might catch sight of the little boy who roams there.

Joni Mayhan is a paranormal investigator and the author of 17 paranormal books. To learn more about New Harmony’s haunted history, check out her latest book Haunted New Harmony or attend one of her many Haunted New Harmony events.

As someone who is sensitive to the paranormal world, I knew something was in my room with me. I climbed into my bed, hoping it would just leave me alone and allow me to sleep, but that wouldn’t be the case.

Shortly after I pulled the covers up to my chin, I could feel it grow closer. Without warning, my body began to vibrate from the inside out.

The feeling was unlike anything I’d ever encountered before. It felt as though I was lying on a vibrating mattress, unable to stop the madness. I tried shifting positions, but the internal vibrations wouldn’t cease. I somehow managed to fall asleep and woke the next morning feeling drained and exhausted. What had happened to me?

I began feeling this sensation more frequently as the days passed. Every morning when I awoke, I felt the same way: as though I’d been depleted of energy while I slept. Over the course of the next few months, I began experimenting and researching the phenomena. What I found was startling. A ghost was pulling energy from me.

While there are actual medical conditions where people feel internal tremors, such as Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis, this wasn’t my situation. I was otherwise very healthy. I was just exhausted from my nightly visits from the other side.

I soon began discovering that I didn’t need to be in bed in order for it to happen. Once while I was at my doctor’s office getting a checkup, my ears began ringing. Since I am clairaudient, having the ability to hear the sounds ghosts make, I knew something paranormal was in the room with me. As the nurse put the blood pressure cuff on me, the entity came even closer, causing my body to begin vibrating. The nurse put a stethoscope to my chest and looked at me with a bit of concern.

“Your heart rate just went up. Are you nervous?” she asked.

I smiled, knowing that if I told her the truth of the matter, I might find myself wearing a straightjacket before the visit ended.

“No. I just had too much coffee today,” I told her instead.

After the latest occurance, I decided to work in earnest on finding a way to stop the body vibrations. As a devout student of the paranormal world, as well as an author, I knew that one of the best ways to protect myself in the paranormal realm involved using my own body’s energy as a shield.

The process is commonly called Shielding. To accomplish it, I started out by grounding myself. Grounding is the method of removing excess energy from your body. While there are many ways to accomplish this, including walking barefoot on the ground outside or hugging a tree, my favorite method can be done anywhere. I imagine a bright white light above me and then I close my eyes. With every breath, I pull white light in through the crown of my head and push the excess energy out through my feet. After several moments of this, I feel physically lighter.

I’ve never had an easy time with visualizations. When I first began attempting grounding myself, I couldn’t hold the image of the white light inside my head. I found that by simply turning on an overhead light, I could actually see the light through my eyelids, something that helped me with the visualization process.

To shield myself, I took that same white light and envisioned it surrounding my body in a bubble. Once my bubble was complete, I followed up by pushing my energy outwards until the bubble was taut. I knew the process was effective because the body vibrations eased up and then stopped completely.

The act of grounding and shielding isn’t something I learned overnight. I had to utilize many of the videos available on Youtube to get me started. Then, I had to practice until I was able to push the ghosts off at will.

If you find yourself exhibiting frequent body vibrations and you are certain it isn’t a medical condition, try my process of grounding and shielding. It can’t hurt and actually might help you fend off the paranormal world around you.

Joni Mayhan is a paranormal investigator and the author of 16 paranormal books. To learn more about her, check out her website Jonimayhan.com.

When I first started doing paranormal investigation, I stuck with the current trend of conducting a “scientific investigation.” My friends and I spent tremendous amounts of money on paranormal equipment and used them for every investigation. We set up cameras in all the known hot-spots and used meters and devices to measure and record the energy in the room in the hopes of capturing evidence of paranormal activity.

As I became more experienced, the traditional investigations began to bore me. I was so tired of the concept, of asking all the same old questions and then listening to hours of recorded audio in my hopes of capturing a ghostly voice. I was also worried. While we were capturing evidence, we weren’t doing anything to solve the issue. This especially bothered me with private investigations.

When a homeowner asked us to come in because they were experiencing something they couldn’t explain, they were often frightened by the activity. When footsteps are heard in the middle of the night or voices drifted through the house when no one was home, they often thought the worst. And who can blame them?

Most people’s perception of ghosts is based on what they see in the media. Nice ghosts exist, but they don’t sell out movie theaters. Instead, Hollywood invests in the darker side of the paranormal world, largely excluding the majority of the paranormal arena. I have probably contributed to this personification as well by writing about my horrific experiences in dealing with darker entities. The fact is: the paranormal world is far more complicated.

There are a mixture of good and bad ghosts, along with entities that were never human. In some cases, they already have a system set up, one that doesn’t require human involvement to keep it continuing. It’s the humans who need to be schooled, not the ghosts.

As my abilities as an intuitive medium expanded, I found that I was able to connect directly with the ghosts in residence. I no longer needed a digital recorder to hear their voices. I could now go directly to the source. This changed everything for me.

Now, when I go on a private investigation, I don’t bother with most of my equipment.I bring a high quality electromagnetic frequency (EMF) meter that I use to rule out high levels of energy that might be impacting the living. Sometimes, a malfunctioning electrical device can emit high levels of EMF, which can cause people to react in the same way they might if a ghost were present.

To explain this further, high EMF often makes people feel as though they are being watched. An example would be a house we investigated where the owners felt as though they were being watched while they sat in their living room. A quick sweep with the EMF meter revealed two air purifiers that were situated at opposite ends of the room. They were both old and outdated and were pouring high levels of EMF into the room. Once they were removed, the feelings of being watched disappeared altogether. To read more about the effects of high EMF, click HERE to read a previous blog post.

When I investigate private homes now, my most valuable tools are my friends and teammates. I bring like-minded people with mediumistic abilities. Together we’re able to identify what is causing (or not causing in some cases) the haunting and put together a plan to resolve the issues.

During a recent investigation, I was invited to the home of a friend who had just purchased a house. He hadn’t necessarily experienced any activity that would put him on Paranormal Witness, but he was uncomfortable in his home all the same. It had a bad vibe. It didn’t feel right. It was as though he wasn’t welcomed there. I stopped him before he could go into more details that might impact our walk-through of the property.

I brought two people along with me who I knew could help me get to the bottom of the haunting: Ken Murray and Barbara Niles. Sandy MacLeod often joins us, but was unable to attend this time.

Ken Murray is a talented psychic medium who has blown me away with his abilities and Barbara Niles is far more talented than she gives herself credit for. I met both of them through the Paranormal 101 classes I used to teach in the town of Gardner, Massachusetts. Sandy’s abilities are similar to mine. We are somewhere between Ken and Barbara. We both get distinct impressions when a ghost is nearby.

As we came into the house, I warned the homeowner to stay silent about the activity he had been experiencing. We wanted to go in completely cold, not knowing anything about the haunting or the history of the house that might taint our impressions. As a medium, this is very important. We are filtering any messages we might receive through our human bodies. If our brains are already thinking about the dark shadow he often sees at the end of the bed, we’ll be looking for dark energy. It might even lead us to mix our own impressions with the information we’ve been told, changing it completely.

We started on the third floor in an area that we later learned had once been servant’s quarters in the massive Craftman-styled house. Armed with notepads and writing utensils, we split up into separate rooms and allowed the energy to speak to us.

Being clairaudient, I alway hear tones that are similar to ear ringing. Once I tune into the sound, I am able to connect with the soul attached to it. In the first room, I picked up a tone that I identified as a young female. As I allowed the connection to grow, I saw her in my mind’s eye and began to hear her words. The first thing I saw was long light-brown hair that trailed down her back. As she turned, I saw a bit of her face. She was young, probably in her late teens or early twenties, and she was sad. As I studied her, I learned that she was an Irish immigrant, brought to this country to work for an American family, possibly as a nanny or housekeeper. “I just want to go home,” she told me.

Knowing we still had a lot of house to cover, I moved into another room on the third floor. I then connected in similar fashion with a heavy-set older woman with dark hair that was pulled into a knot on the back of her head. She struck me as motherly and matronly. She felt like a housekeeper to me, someone who took care of the family, as well as the rest of the staff. I saw her folding laundry, humming while she worked.

I moved onto a third room as Ken and Barbara switched rooms too. During this time, we didn’t say any more to one another than deciding on what to call the rooms so we could discuss them later. We decided on Room 1, Room 2, Room 3 and Room 4. Room 1 was where I felt the girl. Room 3 was where I felt the older woman. In Room 4 I got an impression of children and saw a child’s sailboat. I didn’t connect with any energy, except for the younger woman who was following me. I quickly moved onto Room 2 and discovered the reason for the haunting.

I didn’t need to listen for the tone. The impression came to me immediately. I saw a tall man with ramrod straight posture and dark hair. He had an air about him of importance, but the word that rose in my mind was “butler.” He felt he was better than everybody else. We were all beneath him. I saw him actively trying to disturb the living, making them as uncomfortable as possible.

Once everyone was finished, we moved through the rest of the house, feeling the energy and quietly writing down our impressions. By the time we made our way to the basement, I had also connected with a woman from the 1920’s. I saw her as tall and fashionably thin, wearing a pale beige silk dress with fringe along the hem. She was worried about something, but I couldn’t pick up on the source of her discontent until we got to the basement.

Basements are often my favorite places in haunted location. Not because they are creepy and dark, but because they seem to be the place where ghosts go to hide when the living impede upon their space. This basement was different though.

It was brightly lit and freshly painted. If you saw a photo of it, you wouldn’t immediately think it was creepy, but the energy said otherwise. It felt as though the air itself was sizzling with electricity. It was hard to breath, feeling like the air was thick and heavy. I did a quick sweep with the EMF detector, not finding anything amiss.

Soon, an image rose in my mind of wooden cases filled with glass bottles. I felt myself being drawn to a far corner of the room that had been sectioned off in a closet to house the well pump. “This is where they hid it,” a voice said in my mind. I identified the source of the voice as coming from the fashionable 1920’s woman and realized that this was the reason behind her anxiety. “Flowers cover up the scent,” she told me.

Scent? I looked around, trying to make sense of what I was being told and then it dawned on me. Alcohol. Instinctively, I knew that the house was used during the prohibition days to hide alcohol. While she was worried about it, her husband was almost glib. “Don’t worry about it. We won’t get caught,” he told her.

Once Ken and Barbara were finished writing down their own impressions, we reconvened outside on the porch steps to discuss our findings.

This is always a worrisome moment for me. I often doubt the impressions that I feel, wondering if my highly active imagination was simply manufacturing all the information. It made sense that I would identify the third floor as servant’s quarters. Most old houses were set up in that fashion and the staff I saw were traditional roles that were often employed in wealthy households. The 1920’s woman fit the time period that I had established in my mind, which also fit the style of the house. Was this nothing more than a nice story?

“Ken, why don’t you start,” I suggested, waiting with baited breath to hear what he was going to say. Ken has impressed me over the past year with his findings. He’s almost alway dead-on in his impressions, helping us solve many cases.

“I felt an older woman on the third floor, who I feel was a maid or a nanny,” he said and went onto describe her exactly as I saw her myself. Being a far better medium than I’ll ever be, he also added details, such as the color of her dress and the jewelry she was wearing.

He also picked up on the younger woman and the butler, adding in more layers. He thought the young woman’s name was Anna and saw her with her hair pulled up in a bun. Barbara’s notes revealed similar impressions.Because she is still in the beginning stages of her spiritual advancements, her encounters were less detailed. She identified the older woman, the younger woman and the man. Neither of them picked up on the 1920’s woman, but they both felt children present, which went along with my feelings about the bedroom with the sailboat.

Our only disagreement came in the basement. Ken saw a fight between two men that led to one of the men being stabbed. He also felt that the younger woman was having an affair with the former male owner of the house, something that might have contributed to the fight. He didn’t get any impressions about alcohol, but thought it made sense as he listened to me talk. Barbara also felt alcohol was involved, but felt like it was stolen.

All three of us agreed that the source of the haunting was the male butler. Ken felt as though he probably stood at the end of the homeowner’s bed and presented himself in shadows.He also thought the homeowner might feel as though someone was watching him while he was in the shower and that the bathroom door might occasionally pop open on it’s own.

We also all agreed that while the butler was an angry soul, he wasn’t powerful enough to do anything more than rattle doorknobs and create shadows. The older maid kept him in check, preventing him from attempting anything truly frightening or dangerous. Ken also felt that she liked the current homeowner and would work to keep him protected.

At that point, we took our findings to the homeowner and learned more history of the house. As it turns out, the house across the street had a hidden tunnel that led from the basement to the garage, something that the current owners suspected was created during the prohibition days. Was this connected?

As we thought about it, it began to make sense. Even though we were all different in our findings, they fit an overall story. If the people across the street had an illegal still or were bringing in alcohol for the sake of reselling it, it would make sense that the man in the house we investigated might have been a part of it, perhaps even breaking into his house to steal it and then hide it in his basement. If he were caught by his neighbor, a fight could have broken out. Even though we were forcing the pieces together, they fit.

In the end, we decided not to do anything about the haunting. Sometimes this is the best method. The dead have worked out a system of checks and balances. Often, we join hands and create a sacred circle where we envision a white light above our heads. We then encourage any lost souls to go through it, bringing them to a place most people call Heaven. While this is usually successful for us, it wasn’t the right thing to do in this case. If we attempted to cross over one or more of them, we might end up doing more harm than good. The heavy-set maid might have crossed over, leaving the angry butler there alone without anyone to prevent him from going after the living. It wasn’t worth taking the chance. It was better to leave it as we found it.

The only one I felt bad about was the younger Irish immigrant woman. She had been following me all night and was nearby as we spoke to the homeowner.

Mentally, I connected with her and told her about the white light, showing her an image of her floating towards it and finding her way to Heaven, where her family was waiting for her. I felt her acknowledgement and knew that she would go when she was ready.

Once we explained our findings to the homeowner, he felt better about the situation. Being a person who is involved in paranormal events, he was well-versed in the ways that ghosts often function. The reason why his house didn’t feel warm and welcoming was because the butler was impacting his emotions.

“Ask the maid to help you. Ask her if she will keep him away from you,” I suggested.

“You might also make an offering to the male butler, to appease him in a sense,” Ken said. “I see a decanter of liquor, possibly bourbon. Put it on a shelf in the dining room and tell him that it’s for him,” he said.

“And flowers for the maid,” I added, somehow knowing that she’d enjoy them.

Ken also gave the homeowner a stick of palo santos wood, which we often use in place of sage to “cleanse” the air to make the energy more positive and instructed him on how to use it. “Light it and then let it smolder in a small fire-proof bowl and then allow the smoke to fill the air in the rooms,” he told him. “When you finish, it will feel much lighter in here.”

After we said our goodbyes to the homeowner, we gathered by our cars and chatted about the evening. All in all, we felt good about what we did. We didn’t remove any energy or cross over any weary souls, but sometimes that’s the best thing to do. We simply went in, evaluated the situation and made a decision. I know that some mediums will disagree with what we did, but that’s to be expected. Everyone has differing opinions and we did what we felt was best for this case. If the activity picks up or becomes threatening in any way, we can always go back and do something different. Sometimes it’s better to just leave things as you found them.

Joni Mayhan is a paranormal investigation and the author of 15 paranormal books. She also teaches a popular online Paranormal 101 class. For more information about Joni or her books or classes, click HERE .

People often ask me how they can develop their sixth sense and it’s not an easy question to answer. Everyone’s abilities are unique. Not everyone feels it the same way.

When I was a child, I had frequent ear ringing. Instinctively, I knew I was hearing the sound of a ghost. When I would hear the random ringing, I would feel as though someone was standing beside me. It wasn’t something I could easily explain. I just knew.

It wasn’t until I was much older that I decided to embrace my abilities instead of run from them. After a lifetime of having paranormal experiences, I knew there wasn’t anywhere I could possibly run that they couldn’t follow me.

I started by researching all the possible types of mediumistic gifts. I learned about the “clairs.” There were clairvoyants – people who had clear seeing and would see mind images. Some people were claircognizant. They simply knew things they shouldn’t have had access to. Others were clairsentient and felt physical symptoms when a ghost was nearby. My gift was clairaudience. I had clear hearing.

I quickly learned that most people with my ability don’t hear ear ringing. They hear voices or music or sounds. At the time, I didn’t have a mentor to work with so I had to figure it all out on my own. Thankfully, a friend of mine was also embracing her sixth sense, so we helped each other through it.

Sandy is clairsentient. While some people with this ability feel nauseated when a ghost is nearby, others feel a tightening in their chest or feel the hairs on the back of their neck stand at attention. For Sandy, her ability also didn’t follow the norm. She felt a tingling on her head, as though her scalp was crawling.

Together, we worked on our abilities. If I heard a ringing, I asked her if she felt a tingling. Using each other for validation was a tremendous bonus. We were able to eliminate all sense of doubt when we both felt our sixth senses come to life at the same time.

Like all muscles, the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. Soon, we both began getting other signs that the dead were nearby. As soon as my ears would ring, if I honed in on it, I got a “mind picture” that popped into my head. Sandy soon began getting the same thing. Then, I simply began knowing information that I shouldn’t have known. Was it possible that my clairaudience led to clairvoyance and claircognizance as well?

In the years since I began working on my abilities, I’ve learned that this is something that happens to most sensitives. Once you master one ability, it’s as though you were given an upgrade. I can now read energy from photographs or from talking to someone on the phone. Information floods my mind in ways I couldn’t imagine.

If you feel that you have a six sense you’d like to develop, begin searching for others who are in the same boat. They aren’t actually hard to find. Just start talking about it to the people you know. People often hide their gifts because they’re afraid people will think they’re crazy. If you can’t find it there, look for mediums in your area who are willing to work with you. And most of all, read everything you can get your hands on. Knowledge is power in the paranormal world. You can never know too much.

Something doesn’t feel right. You know it the minute you walk in the door. You might check all the doors and windows to make sure someone didn’t break in. You’ll also look under the beds and in the closets, feeling slightly foolish for doing so. The unsettling sensation will probably drift away after a while, but returns the minute you slip into bed and turn off the lights. If your house truly is haunted, you might also feel as though someone is watching you during odd moments of the day. Items will probably disappear, only to reappear somewhere else. Footsteps will be heard in empty rooms or you might catch a glimpse of something moving quickly out of the corner of your eye. While most ghosts are nothing more than earth-bound souls who haven’t found their way to the light, it’s still unnerving to share your space with a ghost. Here are several methods of removing a ghost from your home.

1. Arrange a House Blessing

Most religious leaders are happy to bless your home providing you are a member of their church. Having the backing of the church behind them can make a difference. If the ghost was once human, they might remember this from their living days and respect the wishes of the clergy.

2. Cleanse the house yourself

Start by calming down the energy. Purchase white sage from your local metaphysical store. It can be mixed with cedar or sweet-grass for good effect. You should know that sage isn’t a cure all. You can’t just walk from room to room burning it and expect it to remove all the ghosts. Think of it more like “Ghost Valium.” It quiets the spiritual energy, making them more willing to abide by your wishes.

This is a good first step and may be enough to solve the issue. Ghosts don’t always understand they can’t come with you. When you claim your space, it lets them know they can’t just move in with you on a whim. Before you begin, open a few windows in your house.

Light the stick of sage and then blow it out once it starts to provide smoke. Ask your Spirit Guides or guardians to help you.

Fill every room in your house with the smoke, starting with the outermost corner, working your way to the front of the house. Let the sage smoke cover every inch of space in every room, from floor to ceiling. Some say the smoke is calming to them, helping them transition to the next plane. As you burn the sage, tell them you’re filling the house with light and love, and that no negative energy can remain. Tell them this is your house and you are taking it back. Encourage them to find the peace and love they desire through the white light. Tell them it’s time for them to go. Some people will say a prayer as well.

When you are finished, extinguish the sage stick on the front walkway.

Cut your ties. You can do this physically, as well as mentally. Cut the cords that connect you to this energy, and then move on. Don’t think about it. Shove it out of your mind. Thinking about it could actually draw them back in, so avoid this as much as possible.

Some people follow this up with a ring of sea salt around the border of the house. If this isn’t feasible, sprinkle it on the windowsills and doorsteps. This seals the property and prevents negative energy from returning. Some will also create a spiritual boundary by spraying their walls with Holy Water. Others will also take a warm bath filed with sea salt and lavender, to cleanse their body of the energy.

3. Counsel the Dead

Imagine yourself as a ghost therapist. Talk to the energy and tell them about the white light. It opens up when we die and we are supposed to cross through it to get to the other side. Some people call this place on the other side Heaven or the Kingdom. It is a wonderful place, filled with all their loved ones and relatives who have passed on before them. Tell them it’s okay to cross over. Often, souls balk at crossing over into the light at the time of their death. They begin to wonder if they were good enough in life to earn passage, fearing they will take an elevator directly down to fire and brimstone instead. This isn’t the case. Everyone is allowed to cross over. While they might not like the ramifications of their misdeeds, they aren’t sent directly to Hell. Some misdeeds aren’t misdeeds at all. They are considered a human condition. Tell them they are forgiven, that God loves them and welcomes them. Urge them to find the light and cross over. They can call out to their ancestors to help pull them through or to look for someone else’s white light to pass through. Funeral homes and churches are good places for them to look. Most souls linger around to attend their own funeral, perhaps checking out the attendance, and won’t cross until the service ends. Several members of my Paranormal 101 class and I have been helping souls cross over by using this technique. We simply talk to them as though they are people standing in front of us. In several instances, we’ve been highly successful, which is the best possible solution, in my books.

4. Don’t Make Things Worse

Homeowners can make the haunting worse. Don’t kid yourself that you can’t. Through naiveté and ignorance, the living can anger the dead quite easily. Some key points:

Don’t investigate your own home. I’ve been called to several homes only to discover the homeowner is actually pleased with the haunting. Basically, I was invited over so she could show off her ghosts to me. If this is the case, please don’t call me. I see enough ghosts on a daily basis to last me a lifetime. I don’t need to meet yours too. If you continue to poke at them, trying to get a great EVP or photograph to show your friends, they aren’t going to go away. They might like the attention and decide to stay on for an extended period. Or you could make them angry, which is often the case.

Ghosts were people too. Remember this as you attempt to exterminate them from your property. Chances are: your house was once their house. They might have built it themselves and have a personal interest in how it’s maintained. Sometimes simply informing them of upcoming maintenance or home-improvement projects can go a long way in easing their fears.

5. Research the History of the House.

Go to your local town hall and look at the census records and death records to find out if the ghost is a former resident of the home. Sometimes a tragic event could have caused them to stay behind, or maybe they’re just attached to the house. Sometimes just knowing what you’re dealing with helps move them on to the other side. After you’ve figured this out, return to step 3 and work on counselling them.

6. Do Nothing

Allow the energy to calm down on its own. Don’t acknowledge them and don’t be fearful. Just go about your life as usual. Sometimes this simple action makes a difference. Unless they pop up in my face, I don’t pay any attention to them. I pretend I don’t see the cats staring at the spot above my bed. I dismiss the rapping sounds on the walls I refuse to give it any energy, which ultimately feeds it and gives it more ability to continue. Sometimes, they grow bored with me and drift away.

7. Move

The last resort, which I don’t think is a good one, is to move. I don’t like this last option, because you are only leaving the problem for someone else to deal with. Or worse, you go through the effort of moving, only to discover the ghost has followed you.

8. Change Your Life

Dark energy attracts dark energy. If your life is in shambles and you live each day dreading the next, you are likely to attract more than you bargained for. Negative entities love nothing more than feasting on your misery. Get out of your house and go for frequent walks. Open the blinds every day and let the sunlight in. Find good reasons to live your life and make changes so it becomes second nature. For me, this made a huge impact. I’ve always considered myself to be a positive person, but I sometimes let past hurts affect me. One psychic medium I went to said she saw a dark spot on my aura and told me to let go of the past. Advice like that is often easier said than done, but I did take her words to heart. Once I finally let go of the traumas from my past, I discovered that my vibration increased and dark scary entities stopped following me home.

What Next?

Sometimes drastic situations call for drastic measures. Some ghosts are resistant about moving on, so the typical measures aren’t going to work with them. If you’ve done all these things, but still continue to have paranormal issues, you will need to pull out the big guns. .

Get Help

Understand that this is more than you can handle on your own and find a psychic medium to help you. There may be more going on than you know. If the ghost is advanced and is negative, you don’t want to handle this by yourself, especially not the first time. Find someone who has experience removing negative energy. An experienced Psychic will be able to determine the type of haunting and help you find the correct measures to deal with it. If you suddenly went blind in one eye, you probably wouldn’t go to the pharmacy and ask the sales clerk for help. You’d seek out an optometrist. The same theory applies to extreme hauntings. After years of having negative entities follow me home and disrupt my life, I finally found people who could help me. Both of them are psychic mediums. One of the mediums began teaching me how to protect myself, something that could help me in the long run. The other one removed the ghosts from my house when I could no longer handle them. People like this do exist and are often willing to help you. For me, finding them was the hardest part. If you find this to be your reality as well, contact your local metaphysical shop or look for a psychic medium groups on social media sites. Ask friends for recommendations and keep searching until you find someone. Always keep in mind that most ghosts were individuals, and every method isn’t going to work with every ghost. The more resistant a ghost is, the harder they are to move along. Always start at the beginning of the list and rule out normal explanations first. You will save yourself a lot of time and stress. When I went through this myself back in the 1990’s, I wasn’t sure what to do and the resources weren’t as prevalent as they are today. I ended up moving out, leaving the energy for someone else to contend with afterwards. I later learned that the house was sold five times in five years, and it made me feel very guilty for not pursuing it further. Whatever you do, do it with purpose and remain calm. Fear is never a good tool for working with ghosts, and neither is anger. Most hauntings are human in nature and a sense of compassion is your best ally.

What if the Haunting isn’t Human?

When we talk about a non-human haunting, we are usually talking about a demonic situation. While these are rare, they do exist. Signs of a non-human haunting will range from foul smells in the house and abrupt personality changes to unexplained scratches on the body. Demons don’t possess locations, they possess people. They only hang out at a location to stalk the perfect victim. If you suspect your haunting isn’t human, find a professional to help you. I would recommend a combination of efforts. Seek out a trusted psychic medium, as well as a member of clergy. The medium will help act as a go between, letting the others know what is going on. A member of clergy, preferably a Roman Catholic Priest, will conduct an exorcism. Don’t allow someone to perform this unless they have a proven track record. This isn’t the time for someone to be learning a skill, especially if your life is at stake Always believe it will work. Faith and a firm sense of belief will carry you much further than doubt and fear. If you enjoyed this article, you can find more information just like it in my new book Dark and Scary Things, available in paperback or eBook on Amazon.com (click here) or on BarnesandNoble.com (click here). Joni Mayhan is a paranormal investigator and author who lives in central Massachusetts. If you enjoy reading about the paranormal, you might also enjoy her other paranormal books, Bones in the Basement – Surviving the S.K. Pierce Haunted Victorian Mansion, The Soul Collector, or Devil’s Toy Box. You can click on any of the covers below to learn more about them.

Many people possess metaphysical abilities but aren’t aware of them. They chalk them up to a strong sense of intuition or lucky guesses, when in fact, they are truly gifted. Some of these abilities come to us for a reason, helping us interpret messages we need to hear.

Have you ever heard the phone ring and knew instantly who was calling?

Do you ever have dreams that come true?

Do some people give you strange vibes?

Do you know when someone is ill?

Does the hair on your arms ever stand up for no apparent reason?

Do you know when someone is lying to you?

Below are a few of the common mediumistic and psychic abilities along with their lesser known indicators.

Clairaudience – Some people hear the sound that ghosts make. It doesn’t necessarily involve hearing disembodied voices. Sometimes it could be as innocuous as having your ears ring. Ghosts are tuned into a different frequency than we are, but some gifted people are able to hear their tones. If you think you might be hearing a ghost, try turning your head to see if the sound is localized to a certain spot in the room. If it is, you might be hearing a ghost.

Another lesser known gift of some clairaudients is the ability to detect high electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) being emitted from electrical devices. For some, the sensation is similar to pushing through a wall of heavy energy. High EMF fields could point to an electrical hazard. When devices push out high levels of EMF, it could be due to faulty wiring, creating what paranormal investigators call a “fear cage.” Symptoms of high EMF fields could be frequent headaches, the feeling of being watched or actual hallucinations. If you feel this, inspect it closer with an EMF detector. You could save a house from burning down.

Clairsentience – That tightening you get in your chest or the goose bumps that raise on your arms could be a sign that a ghost is nearby. People with this ability often feel a physical sensation when something paranormal is in the room with them. When you hold certain items, do you instinctively know who it once belonged to?

Clairsentients can often tap into an ability called Psychometry, which is the ability to pull information from items. This is an important ability if you frequently purchase antiques. Well-loved items, such as tools and toys, could contain a spiritual attachment. Unless you want a ghost in your house, you’ll want to insure the item you’re bringing home doesn’t have anything paranormal attached to it. If you suspect you have this ability, find an experienced psychic medium to work with. Validating your sensations is important for better understanding your abilities.

Empathy – Empaths often find themselves tuning into other people’s feelings. They are also excellent lie detectors. Don’t attempt to lie to an empath and plan to get away with it. Empaths are easily overwhelmed by large groups of people and need to spend ample time alone. They are good listeners, but have a tendency to feel emotion deeper than most people. Empaths also have an uncanny ability to know when other people are sick or emotionally off. Using this gift could easily save a life, if trusted and used.

To survive as an empath, you must learn the basics of grounding and shielding your energy. Empathy is actually a type of clairsentience. If you feel you have empathic abilities, try your hand at Psychometry, as well.

Clairvoyance – If the phone rings and you see a picture the person on the other end of the line in your head before you answer it, you might have the ability of “clear sight.” Other aspects of this gift could include having dreams turn into reality days later, or seeing the image of a ghost in your mind. You could be tapping into the thoughts of other people or even find yourself communicating with the spirit world.

People with this ability often have prophetic dreams. Often the information comes without a timeline or location, but paying attention to these signs could prevent someone from going through a horrific situation. If you get these types of dreams, look for identifying cues, such as calendars, clocks or street signs to help you narrow down when and where it will happen.

Claircognizance – People with this ability simply know information they shouldn’t know. Like a clairvoyant, they might know who’s calling them without looking at the phone, but the information will come to them differently. They’ll just “know.” If you’ve lost your favorite ring, they often point you in the right direction. Do you ever get strong hunches about accepting a new job or knowing which route will be the fastest? You might be tapping into the thoughts of your Spirit Guide or your Higher Self to get this information.

People with this ability often predict danger ahead of time. They might get strong feelings that something is about to go wrong. Find validation when you can, if you have this ability, or at least dig deeper into the premonitions you’re getting. Listening to your gut instincts could save you from a dangerous situation.

Clairalience – With this ability, you will be able to smell things others can’t smell. Whether it’s the scent of your deceased aunt’s perfume or the sharp tang of fear emanating from another human being, some people have unusually well-developed senses of smell. Most people with this ability, don’t realize they’re doing it. They may even be detecting other people’s pheromones.

People with serious illnesses often smell different from well people. While most people can’t detect this, someone with a finely tuned clairalience ability might pick up on it and be able to alert the person to a potentially dangerous health situation.

Many people have gifts they don’t understand. Unless they’ve compared their experiences with other people, they often just assume that everybody feels this way. Understanding your abilities is the first step to developing them. Research as much as you can and search for someone to help you work with what you have. Trusting in your abilities comes with time and validation, but it could make a tremendous impact in your life and is worth pursuing, especially if it saves a life.

Joni Mayhan is a paranormal investigator, author, and the teacher of a popular Paranormal 101 class. For more information about her, check out her website Jonimayhan.com

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